


Shenanigans

by Moonraykir



Series: Even Dragons Have Their Ending [11]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Children, Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Fanservice, Gen, Mischief, Nudity, Rivendell | Imladris, Romantic Fluff, Sensuality, Skinny Dipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-04-30 05:26:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14489778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonraykir/pseuds/Moonraykir
Summary: In which a pair of naked dwelflings run wild in Rivendell, Kíli and Tauriel take a bath, and several venerable elves prove that one is never too old for mischief on a hot summer's day.ORMoonraykir writes the fluffiest domestic fanservice she can.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had the need to write something totally fluffy and sweet, and this fic is the result. I've put in as much cute, ridiculous fan service as I can manage.

Rivendell's crowded training arena was utterly silent as Kíli lay back on the sand and gripped the weighted bar that the pair of elves held suspended crosswise above his chest.

"Now remember, you said a dozen lifts," the blond one, Thalion, reminded with a grin. "If you can manage it."

Kíli barked a short laugh. "Do you think I'm a bairn? Of course I can." At his curt nod, the elves released the full weight of the bar into Kíli's arms. He flashed a grin of challenge at Thalion, and then lowered the bar to his chest and lifted once, then again.

He had been repeating this exercise for the past quarter hour, lifting successively heavier loads. Kíli supposed he was now pressing nearly twice what Tauriel herself weighed, and the astonished faces of his elven training mates proved that they were duly impressed. Oh, there was no doubt that these warriors were strong, but lithe elven muscles were not built to match the raw power of dwarven ones.

"Eight. Nine," the second elf counted.

Kíli's chest and arms were burning now, and his limbs were trembling.

"I don't think you can do it, dwarf," Thalion taunted good naturedly.

A groan of effort was the only answer Kíli could give as he lifted the bar another time.

"Ten."

Kili closed his eyes and thought of the training he and Fíli had done before the Quest. This was nothing to some of the things Dwalin had made them do some days.

"Eleven!"

Even through the rushing in his ears, Kíli could hear the collected intake of breath from his audience.

"Twelve!"

He opened his eyes and meeting Thalion's look, raised the weighted bar once more before releasing it back into the waiting hands of his companions.

"Thirteen? Now you're just showing off," Thalion said with a smirk.

Kíli went limp in the sand, laughing and gasping at once. "I've—been showing off—all morning, Pointy Ears. But just now—that—was a craftsman's dozen. What I promised."

Thalion laughed, then clasped Kíli's hand and drew the dwarf to his feet. "I grant you are honorable, as well as strong."

"I'm hungry, too," Kíli said, brushing sand from his sweaty skin. "I reckon I can outdo you at the breakfast table, as well." Someone offered him a towel, which he accepted gratefully.

"I don't doubt it!"

"You may wish to save that contest for another day," put in Daeron, who was just coming into the arena. "Your wife may need your help."

"Oh?" Kíli looked up from the towel.

Daeron smiled. "I crossed paths with your children on my way here, or rather they crossed mine, running through the gardens as if intent on some mischief. They hadn't a stitch of clothing on between them."

"Ah. Yes, I suppose Taur may want me," Kíli said. If the children were giving trouble, he would not leave her to deal with it alone.

He tossed the towel aside, pulled on the shirt another friend held out for him, and made for the arena gate. Yet as he went through, he turned back to Thalion. "Don't think you've escaped my challenge," he called, walking backwards as he spoke. "Tomorrow morning, in the dining hall! I can eat at least twice as many eggs as you!"

* * *

Back in their rooms, Kíli found Tauriel still in her nightgown. She sat curled in one of the oversized, cushioned chairs, her dreamy gaze on the sun-dappled river flowing by below the open window. As Kíli entered, she glanced up at him over the rim of her tea mug. Her smile was sweet and unconcerned.

"Good morning, love," she said.

"Morning." He regarded her for a moment, taking in her bare feet, the sleep-tangled fall of her red hair, the strap of her gown slipped down from one shoulder. Ah, she was lovely, present, and so tangibly his own.

Kíli stepped close and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "There are rumors of a pair of naked dwelflings loose in the gardens," he said. "I can only assume they're ours."

She breathed a soft laugh though her nose. "Oh, Kíli, it was a conspiracy! They refused to get dressed. As soon as I had Eydís in her clothes, Galadion was out of his. By the time I had wrestled him back into them, she was naked as a robin. So in the end I let them go. It will do them no harm."

Kíli gave a full-throated laugh. "Surely not." He tugged open the buttons on his shirt, pulled it off, started untying his trousers.

"Heavens! You don't mean to follow them?" Tauriel demanded, her tone caught between amusement and dismay.

He looked up to meet her wide-eyed stare and shook his head as he laughed at her again. Oh, she knew better than to put such a thing past him. "I fancy a dip in the stream after my exercise. Join me?"

She took another sip of tea, then set the mug aside. Unfolding her long legs, she stood and followed him down the short stair beyond their bedroom to the bathing pool below. Here the water turned in a calm eddy, cut off from the main river current by a ridge of stone. The low-hanging branch of a tree screened the place from above, lending both shade and privacy.

Kíli stepped down into the water and slipped beneath the surface. The cool river felt wonderful against his skin, still heated as he was from the exercise and the already significant warmth of the day. He tossed wet hair out of his face and turned to watch Tauriel, who still stood on the river bank, pinning up her hair. She secured a final pin, then stooped to gather the hem of her gown, and in one fluid movement, drew it over her head.

Kíli had always admired the way she undressed. There was something artful and deliberate about the way she moved, as if this were a ritual no less important for being a minor, daily one. Kíli knew he usually cast aside clothes as if they were an encumbrance, much like their children had done earlier. With her, it was always an unveiling.

Tauriel sighed happily as she came down into the pool beside him. "The water is perfect."

"Mm-hm." Kíli dipped his head under once more. "Today's going to be hot. No wonder our children chose to wear naught but their skins."

"So long as they don't climb into any fountains," she mused.

"I can make no promises, for myself or my offspring." He chuckled. "Nor should you." He could never forget her confession that, encouraged by wine and Midsummer Eve's festivities, she had once jumped into an ornamental pool in the Elvenking's palace. Indeed, he had later helped her reenact the escapade.

She said nothing, but Kíli knew by her suppressed smirk that she knew what he meant.

"I like it here in Rivendell," he told Tauriel. "We have beautiful rooms, a bath even better than the one I built for you back home." He reached up for her, his wet hand trailing droplets that caught like gems on her shoulders and breast. "Lots of elves eager to play with our children, so that I get nearly as much time as I could wish with my Thatrûna."

"Nearly?" She gave him a sweet smile before dropping down into the water out of his reach; then she set her hands on his hips and lifted herself back up to kiss him. "You still smell of sand and sweat, my love," she said, and moved past him to fetch the soap from its shelf above the water.

Kíli grinned as she returned to rub lathered hands over his shoulders; he enjoyed being bathed by her quite as much as he enjoyed anything else they got up to when they were supposed to be washing.

"I set a new training ground record this morning," he told her.

"Ah?"

"Thalion didn't believe I could press twenty-one stones' weight." He shrugged as Tauriel drew her hands down his arms. "I showed him I could."

"What does he owe you now?" she asked, amusement lifting the corner of her mouth.

He chuckled. Tauriel knew him well enough to guess that betting might have been involved. "Nothing. Bragging rights; the humiliation of having underestimated a dwarf." He spoke teasingly, for he was friendly with nearly all of the warriors of Elrond's house.

"The Khazad weren't framed like this just for show," she said, spanning his broad chest with her palms. He leaned into her, and she scratched at him with her nails, knowing that was what he liked. "Though I find you do cut a very handsome figure. Surely, twas some idle fool who first suggested dwarves are an ill-made people. Very clearly your Mahal knew what he was about."

"I'm glad you think so." In truth, he'd never needed her words to know this. Aside from that brief period of misunderstanding prior to the conception of their first child, Kíli had never doubted the physical attraction she felt for him.

"Mmm, I know so." She leaned closer so she could reach around him to scrub his back. Her strong, soft hands worked their way from his hips to his shoulder blades and then around his neck. Long fingers pressed up his nape and into his hair, drawing him to her breast as she set a kiss to his brow.

"Do I smell clean now?" he asked, closing his arms around her slender waist.

"Mm-hm." He felt her nod against him.

Kíli released her, then laughed at the soap suds he'd left on her skin. He splashed her, just as she dipped to rinse herself, and Tauriel ended up receiving a face full of water.

"Sorry, love," he said in response to her playful scowl.

Tauriel swam over to the edge of the pool and leaned back against the stone, her body suspended in the water. Oh, but she was captivating: her skin glistening under leaf-tossed shadows and a few stray strands of hair winding in fiery lines over her throat and shoulders. The lapping margin of the water traced the contours of her bosom. As she skimmed the surface of the water with her toes, Kíli caught her foot and held it.

"So, how were the children this morning, besides conspiratorial?" he asked as he pressed his thumbs over her sole. She made a sound of pleasure and nudged at him to continue.

"As excited to be here as they've been each morning for the past sennight," she said. "It makes me so happy to see _them_ happy. You know, when we left Erebor, I thought we would be sharing the world with Galadion and Eydís. But sometimes I feel it is the other way around."

Kíli nodded. He knew the feeling; before their children, Tauriel had made him feel so.

He rubbed her feet for a few minutes more, then took a final dip under the cool river water and swam back to the steps up from the pool.

"I say we find our wayward children," he said as he climbed out and reached for his towel. "But first, breakfast."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, so if Kíli's idea of a dozen is actually 13, what does that mean for the number of children he thinks they should have?
> 
> The story of how Tauriel and Kíli jumped into a fountain in Thranduil's palace (again) is in my little fic ["Strawberry Moon."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7265917)
> 
> So what kind of trouble do you suppose those two dwelflings are about to get into?


	2. Chapter 2

Lord Elrond of Rivendell nearly dropped his book when the little dwelf leaped out of the bushes, roaring ferociously.

"What fearsome beast is this?" he said, closing his volume and setting it in his lap as he regarded the child. It took some effort on his part not to smile in amusement: Galadion—Kíli's eldest, a lad of nearly six years by dwarvish reckoning—was completely naked and likewise entirely unabashed.

"I'm a bear," Galadion returned and showed his teeth in a snarl that was rather more endearing than frightening.

"You seem to have lost your fur coat," Elrond observed seriously.

The lad looked somewhat disappointed. "Not that kind of bear," he protested. "A skin changer, like Mister Beorn. Even when I don't look like a bear, I am one, you know."

"I see. It must be too warm for a fur coat today."

Galadion nodded, sending a tumble of loose dark hair into his face. He reached up and tucked the hair back behind one peaked ear.

"Is Eydís a bear, too?" Elrond said. Where her brother went, she was usually not far behind.

"No. She's just a little sister," the boy said long-sufferingly, as if this should be obvious. "Bears don't have little sisters."

"I thought some of them did."

"Don't be silly!" Galadion rolled his eyes, as if he didn't believe this adult could possibly mean such nonsense.

Elrond laughed. "I suppose not."

Kíli's voice, which had been calling in the distance for the past quarter hour, now sounded louder from the nearby garden path.

"But some of them have fathers, who want them to put on their fur coats," the ancient half-elf noted.

"He won't find me," Galadion said, a spark of mischief in his eyes, and then ducked into a rhododendron bush. He had moved none too soon, for at that moment, Kíli rounded a bend in the path and came into sight.

"Have you seen my son?" the dwarf asked.

"Alas, I have not." Elrond gave a light shake of his head.

"Blast. I'm supposed to finish dressing him." Kíli motioned with the clothing in his hand. "Though I suppose I'm a fool for hoping to succeed where my wife has failed." He smiled faintly, and Elrond guessed Kíli was more amused than frustrated by the situation.

Elrond could not help a chuckle as he remembered how his own Celebrían had often been able to find a way with their young sons when he could not. "Good luck," he said.

"Right." Kíli flashed a knowing smile before proceeding down the path to continue his search.

Once Kíli had disappeared again among the many twists and turns of the garden walk, Galadion thrust his head out from among the rhododendron's purple blooms. He said nothing, but stared at Elrond from rounded brown eyes, clearly astonished that this venerable adult had just lied to his father.

"I told no untruth," Elrond said with a smile. "I've seen no dwelflings this morning. Only a very small bear."

* * *

Arwen was cutting roses to fill a vase when she found Kíli and Tauriel's little daughter.

Reaching for another blossom, she had been arrested by a burst of song. It was a tune Arwen had never heard before, though she recognized the sweet, childish treble as that of three-year-old Eydís.

_"Sing hey for a bath at close of day, to wash the weary mud away…"_

Arwen tucked her garden shears into her belt and moved past the rose hedge. Then she laughed.

The child was on hands and knees in the grass, her little feet and bare backside equally smudged from grass and dirt. In front of her was a small structure built of flat river stones cemented with mud. Its roof had been overlaid with rose petals, carefully arranged in alternating pink and white. A large pile of pebbles was in the grass beside her, and as she sang, Eydís pressed them in a row into the soft soil.

_"A loon is he who will not sing, O! water hot is a noble thing!"_

The elf maid came closer and squatted down at Eydís's side.

"What are you making? It's very pretty," she observed.

The dwelfling broke off her singing mid-note and turned to beam proudly up at Arwen.

"It's a house for Buttercup," she said. "See?"

Arwen stooped further to follow the girl's pointing finger, and then she could see Eydís's favorite toy—a carved wooden horse—inside the little house.

"Mm. She seems to like it," Arwen said. "And is this her paddock?" She gestured to the pebble wall already half enclosing the little structure.

"Yah," Eydís affirmed as she began placing stones once again.

"May I help?" the elf asked after a moment.

"Mm-hm."

And so following her little friend's example, Arwen began placing pebbles for the other half of the enclosure. Once they had joined up the two halves of the fence with the final stones, the two females surveyed their work.

Arwen said, "I think it's still missing something, don't you?"

"Oh?" Eydís's tone was interested.

"I think Buttercup would like a lane up to her door." She turned for her flower vase and held it towards Eydís. "Which color should we use?"

"Hmm." The little girl's expression went grave with thought, and Arwen smiled, having seen that furrowed brow and pursed lip on Kíli's face. No matter how many children she met, she was always delighted to find how well even rounded, infant features could mirror the originals of which they were copies. Eydís had her father's mouth as well as his dark hair and eyes, though their up-tilted shape was from her mother. Her skin was as fair as Tauriel's, and she already sported a generous sprinkling of freckles over her cheeks and nose.

"Yellow," Eydís pronounced at last, so Arwen drew the rose from the vase and plucked a few petals, laying them before the door of the house in the beginning of a path. Then she offered the flower to Eydís to continue. They went through two roses in this fashion, and were just connecting the artfully winding lane to the far end of the paddock when soft footsteps rustled the grass behind them.

Arwen looked up to see Tauriel watching them.

"I see you've been busy this morning," the Sylvan woman observed. "It is a very fine home you've made for Buttercup."

"Arwen helped me," Eydís said.

"So I see. Buttercup must be very grateful to you both."

"She is!"

"You've been working so hard, surely you must be hungry by now. It's nearly noon."

Eydís considered for a moment, then shook her head.

"But I'm hungry," Arwen put in. "Won't you come have lunch with me and your _nana?"_

"Well… " She eyed her mother doubtfully, glancing at the dress Tauriel had tucked over her arm. "Nana says I can't have lunch if I don't have clothes so… No!" She uttered this last word with a sly smile and darted past Arwen.

Yet before the energetic dwelf could escape, Arwen extended an arm and scooped the little girl into her lap. "All right, go naked if you wish. But I should warn you: you look so adorable that I won't be able to help tickling you." And she did, so that Eydís shrieked with helpless laughter.

"Nana! Ama'! Help!"

Tauriel looked on, her expression thoughtful. "I don't know how, my love. Unless…"

"Ama'!" Eydís squirmed without result, though her bright face showed she was enjoying this game.

"Well, perhaps if you put on your dress…" Tauriel mused.

"Yes, I think if you got dressed, I might be able to stop," Arwen said, before leaning in to press messy kisses to her little victim's face.

Eydís squeaked in protest. "I will," she gasped. "Nana! I will!"

Arwen gave one more kiss, then let the dwelfling go. Eydís hopped from her captor's embrace and presented herself to her mother, her arms up so that Tauriel might easily slip on her frock. Then Tauriel scooped up her daughter and offered her own kiss, which Eydís received with a peal of giggles. "I love you, my sweet," Tauriel told her.

"I'm hungry, Ama'," Eydís said.

"Are you? Then let us have some lunch."

Arwen rose, and together they made their way back through the gardens towards the house. As they walked, Arwen fell a few steps behind Tauriel, enjoying the sight of Eydís nestled happily in her mother's arms, her little head tucked companionably against Tauriel's while her bright eyes flicked over the garden sights. Some day, Arwen thought, she would like an elfling just as sweet for her own.

As the three of them were crossing the lawn below the main house, Arwen began, "If you'll excuse me, I must put away these flowers, but I will join you in—"

She never finished the thought, for at that moment, two elven men sprinted right across her path. As they passed, the small dwelf one of them carried began screaming with glee. Not far behind them followed a dwarf, running full tilt with his shorter legs in an effort to catch up. Not one of them was wearing a single thing.

They were all shouting now as they ran down the lawn, straight for the lily pond. There was chorus of whoops and then a splash, followed by a clatter of wings from the flock of herons taking flight.

"My brothers," Arwen sighed.

"My husband!" Tauriel echoed.

"Adad!" Eydís cried, and leaped down from her mother's arms to go chasing after them. She was out of her dress again before she reached the pond's edge.

There she stood on the bank, shouting "Ada'! Adad!" until Kíli left off ducking Elladan to hold out his arms for her. She jumped and he caught her, spinning her across the water to splash the others. Galadion cried out, begging for the same, so Elrohir whirled him up and tossed him into the middle of the pond. When the lad surfaced, he was laughing.

Arwen laughed, too. "They used to do so with me, you know. It makes me feel quite young to watch them."

"I never had a brother to play with," Tauriel said, a confessional smile on her lips. "So I must make up for it by being wild now." As she spoke, she gathered her skirt up above her knees and tucked it into her belt. This done, she too, raced off down the lawn and into the water to join her family.

As Tauriel received her son from Elrohir, the dark-haired elf glanced up and caught Arwen's eye. "What are you waiting for, sister?" he called. "You never were one to let us have all the fun without you."

She pulled a face that was, perhaps, rather unbecoming for a lady of her years, but she was laughing again as she stooped to tie up her skirts. Oh, she _felt_ very young indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my headcanon that elves aren't very concerned with nudity in the context of bathing or swimming. :) And naked toddlers are just cute. 
> 
> The idea for this fic was inspired by this adorable [fan art](http://ssilcatt.tumblr.com/post/57612210962/because-naked-baby-dorfs-are-good-for-my-soul) of a naked baby Fíli and Kíli.
> 
> In my main fic series, Tauriel calls Kíli her little bear, so no wonder Galadion thinks he is one.
> 
> I've got one more chapter planned with a bit more Kiliel fluff, when we'll find out what preceded the boys' appearance in that last scene!


	3. Chapter 3

"I thought perhaps you had forgotten about me," Tauriel jestingly lamented as Kíli came into their bedroom. He had been gone a long time, putting their children to bed.

"Impossible." He smiled across the room at her. "But it took some coaxing to get those two quiet for their story. After running wild all day long, they still had quite a lot of energy."

"They take after their father," Tauriel said as she continued weaving her hair into a loose plait. On warm summer nights like this, she found it far more comfortable to sleep with her hair tied back, and even Kíli did not complain (much) that he could not immerse himself in those copper waves.

"Ah?" He cocked a mischievous eyebrow at her. "And have you any suggestions for how to tire me out if I'm not yet ready to sleep?"

She laughed. "Hmm… I'll let you know if something occurs to me." She tied off her braid, then stood and went to the head of the bed, where a small pulley controlled the slatted roof panels above, allowing them to be opened or closed as weather and comfort demanded. She experimented with the shutters till she found the angle that caught the most of the cool evening breeze and directed it down to them.

Kíli was sitting on his side of the bed, unwinding the braids from his own hair; they were something of a mess after today's adventures, and tomorrow, he would ask her to remake them. Tauriel lay down and watched him as he then stood, pulled off shirt and trousers and tossed them, loosely folded, into the wardrobe.

"Oh, by all means, don't stop there," Tauriel teased as he climbed into bed, clad only in his small clothes. "You gave the rest of the world a full view of yourself today, so you mustn't be shy before your own wife."

"Mustn't I?" Kíli kissed her, then lay back on his pillow. "Maybe you can convince me."

Tauriel propped herself up on her elbow to look at him. "What I want to know, _hadhodeg_ , is what convinced you and two most regal elves to strip naked and jump into the lily pond."

"Well." He reached over and flicked the strap of her nightgown off her shoulder. "You know, I'd been up and down the garden without so much as catching sight of our little Galad when I met the twins. They agreed to help me look; they knew all the best places for hiding, they said. And sure enough, there we found him under the footbridge on the south garden walk.

"He didn't want to get dressed, of course, after having his taste of freedom. He made quite a lot of fanciful excuses against it and demanded to know why he must dress, so finally I told him that naked dwelflings were simply not allowed in Rivendell.

"'Adad, you're wrong,' he said, and begged the twins to tell me so.

"But very gravely Elladan assured him it was true; it was a very serious offense for little dwelflings to go without clothes. 'Oh yes, and the punishment is quite unspeakable,' added Elrohir. Poor little Galadion! He looked quite shocked and desperate at this news.

"Of course, there _was_ one exception to the rule, Elrohir said, and that was for swimming."

Tauriel interrupted Kíli's narrative with a laugh. "Of course! And no doubt that is the only reason my own dwarf wasn't thrown out of Rivendell years ago for just the same crime."

Kíli's lips curved up in a smile. "No doubt. Anyway, the twins agreed that the only way to save Galadion from the worst of punishments was to make sure he went swimming right away. So they scooped him up and carried him off. About when we got to the lawn, Galadion wanted to know how we could go swimming with him if we had all our clothes still on, so we had to stop and undress, too. Galadion thought it was the very best of jokes. And, well, after that we ran into you."

"I see," Tauriel said. "Yes, I can believe that my young son and my young husband could make a few fully grown elves forget to act their age."

"And what about you, _amrâlimê?_ You were carrying on with us. Did you forget yourself, too?"

"No, Kíli." She smiled softly as she drew a lock of his hair through her fingers; the strands still held a tight ripple from the braid. "With you, I always act exactly my age."

"Good." He caught her about the neck and drew her to him for a kiss. "I love you, my sweet young wife."

She laid a hand on his bare chest, combing her fingers through the rough hair that liberally covered his skin. He was so warm, on this summer night when the air was so warm that almost one could not wish for bodily contact. Almost.

Tauriel leaned more fully against him, and she kissed him again. He took hold of her, settling her atop him. Her knee slipped easily across his body and her foot looped back to tangle in his legs. She could feel the heat of his palms through her light gown as his hands pressed down over her waist and hips; then he found her skin as his fingers slid into the hollow of her knee.

She laughed against his mouth. Kíli had discovered how ticklish she was on their wedding night, and eight years of marriage had not taught him to have any mercy. Not that she disliked being teased by him…

_"Meleth,"_ she whispered, as his broad hands moved up along her bare thighs. Tauriel buried her face in his neck, and then they tipped over so that he lay above her.

She passed her hands around his back and slipped one beneath his small clothes to clasp his buttock.

Kíli exhaled, the sound somewhere between a moan and a laugh. "I do enjoy being convinced by y—"

"Amad!"

A bright voice cut across Kíli's husky growl.

"Amad, I can't sleep."

Tauriel drew her hands back to herself, and Kíli gave a disappointed groan as he tugged her nightgown back into place and tumbled off her to his own side of the bed again. But when Eydís padded over, he put out his hand and hoisted her up beside him. She climbed over his body to flop into the space between him and Tauriel.

"I can't sleep. It's too hot," the little dwelf said.

"It's hot in here, too, my love," Tauriel said, feeling an ironic smile on her lips. The hammering of her pulse and the perspiration dewing her skin had nothing to do with the summer heat. "I think you would be cooler back in your own bed. It will be even warmer with all three of us here."

Eydís yawned and nestled down against the feather mattress. "No. It's better now."

Tauriel heard Kíli chuckle softly from the far side of the bed.

"Good night, my jewel," he said, and tickled his daughter's foot once.

Everything was quiet for a while, save for the rushing of the water outside the bedroom windows. As the flames of unfulfilled desire ebbed oh so slowly from Tauriel's limbs, she took what amused comfort she could from the knowledge that Kíli, at least, understood precisely how frustrated she was. Ah well, tomorrow, surely they could find a few moments just to themselves…

After a quarter of an hour that passed far more slowly than it should have, Tauriel was drifting off when soft footsteps again sounded in the room. She sat up. "Galadion, what is it?" she asked.

"I don't like sleeping all alone," her son said, gazing hopefully at her from the foot of the bed.

"Come here," she said, patting the mattress.

Galadion needed no further invitation, but quickly scrambled up beside his sister. There was a brief tussle as the two dwelflings fought for places down the center of the bed. Sheets were tangled and then untangled and everyone thoroughly jostled before all was settled again.

In the stillness at last, Tauriel glanced across at Kíli, who was now quite effectively divided from her by their two children. It was impossible to get an arm to him, but if she shifted one long leg, she could just nudge his foot with her own.

At her touch, Kíli smiled, and she knew that he was happy. Oh, so was she.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _hadhodeg_ \- "my little dwarf"
> 
> Well, here's the end of this fluffy little fic! Poor Tauriel and Kíli; they're going to have to enlist a proper babysitter next time. But I think there may be a few elves willing to look after some adorable little dwelflings, don't you? Our lovebirds may be disappointed, but I'm not because I got to write heaps of cute family fluff.
> 
> If you enjoyed this fic, I'd love to hear from you! :) Did you like Kíli's story of how everyone ended up in that pond?


End file.
